Tuesday: N. Shore Settlement, Crash Victims Identified, Candidate Shortage

By Dan Testa, 3-09-10

Good morning; on the Beacon today, a move by Gov. Brian Schweitzer to hold back spending on $3.5 million in grants for infrastructure projects across Montana is causing major financial headaches in the Flathead, leaving the county and Columbia Falls on the hook for road projects completed last fall with the understanding that the state would be reimbursing their cost. Flathead County commissioners voted 2-1 Monday to pursue a settlement on the North Shore Ranch Subdivision lawsuit, with an amendment that provides for a 30-day deadline that allows various entities to purchase the entire property and make it protected land. Identities were released Monday for four people killed in a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 2 near Libby: 17-year-old Jacob Colclough of Libby; 59-year-old Ramona Bauer of Columbia Falls; 12-year-old Jade Ulrich and 13-year-old Jeremy Dodge-Sanders. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are increasing the payouts for this year's Flathead Lake trout fishing tournament in an effort to entice more anglers and reduce the lake trout population.

A conservative group filed a lawsuit in Montana on Monday that seeks to overturn the state's ban on corporate political advocacy. A Dodson-area rancher accused of starving 200 goats to death by locking them in a barn without food and water for more than a month pleaded not guilty Monday to aggravated animal cruelty. A Montana schools superintendent who was showing students his black powder muzzleloader says he accidentally fired the weapon into a classroom wall during a history lesson. Tea Party leaders in Montana have some advice for lawmakers when they come to town for next year's 2011 Legislature: Try to cut general fund spending by about $1 billion. With just one week remaining for candidates to file for office in Montana, nearly two-thirds of the 126 contested legislative seats are without a candidate from one of the two major parties. [End of article]